NCJ Number
41901
Date Published
1977
Length
322 pages
Annotation
THIS BOOK IS A NONFICTION ACCOUNT OF THE BAADER-MEINHOF GANG, THE FIRST UNDERGROUND URBAN GUERRILLA MOVEMENT IN WEST GERMANY.
Abstract
THE POST-WORLD WAR TWO SOCIAL AND POLITICAL CONDITIONS WHICH SPAWNED RADICAL LEFTIST POLITICS AND STUDENT DISSENT, THE EMERGENCE OF THE MILITANT EXTREMIST GUERRILLA GROUP IN 1970, AND THEIR SUBSEQUENT REIGN OF TERROR ARE DESCRIBED IN DETAIL. THE MEMBERS OF THE BAADER-MEINHOF GANG HAVE PARTICIPATED IN THE BOMBING OF THE WEST GERMAN EMBASSY IN STOCKHOLM, THE KIDNAPPING OF POLITICAL LEADER PETER LORENZ, AND THE SKYJACKING THAT LED TO THE ISRAELI COMMANDO RAID ON ENTEBBE AIRPORT. THE AUTHOR CHRONICLES THE HISTORY OF A CONTEMPORARY UNDERGROUND MOVEMENT, ANALYZES THE ACTUAL AND PROBABLE RAMIFICATIONS OF THAT MOVEMENT, AND WRITES AN EXTENSIVE PSYCHOBIOGRAPHY OF THREE URBAN REVOLUTIONARIES. THE FOCUS IS ON ULRIKE MEINHOF, ANDREAS BAADER, AND HIS LOVER GUDRUN ENSSLIN, WHO WERE CAUGHT ALMOST SIMULTANEOUSLY IN JUNE 1972. THEY WERE CHARGED WITH THE BOMBING MURDERS OF FOUR U.S. SERVICEMEN, THE MURDER OF A POLICEMAN, THE ATTEMPTED MURDER OF 54 PERSONS, AND ROBBERY. ONE OF THE GANG MEMBERS STARVED HIMSELF TO DEATH AND ULRIKE MEINHOF COMMITTED SUICIDE WHILE IN JAIL. ANOTHER GANG MEMBER, WILFRED BOSE, WAS KILLED BY ISRAELI COMMANDOS IN ENTEBBE. THE BAADER-MEINHOF CRIMINAL RAMPAGE AND TRIAL IS SEEN BY THE AUTHOR AS A IN THE CALLOUS AND FANATICAL GENOCIDE OF NAZISM....MSP